Heard it Slightly Wrong

It turns out that scene from The Simpsons with Weird Al (see my previous post) mentioned Allan Sherman (a parodist from the 1960s) and not me as I had originally thought. My 15 seconds of fame are over before they really even got started. Maybe my 15 minutes will be better than this.

I got mentioned on the Simpsons

I was at a Weird Al concert tonight, and during one costume change they showed a clip from a Simpsons episode in which Weird Al appeared. In that scene, someone mentioned the name "Alex Scheuerman." Yes, someone mentioned my name on The Simpsons. I was with three friends and they are my witnesses. I will have to do some research to find out how this happened. If anyone wants to help, leave a comment with whatever you find out.

Stay tuned and I'll let you know what I find out. I wonder if they spelled my last name right in the script...

I'll miss the sticky floors

It's a known fact that if you hear a rumour from two totally independent sources, it's probably true (like Rowan Atkinson's death in the 1990s or Bert and Ernie's homosexuality). Now, two independent sources have confirmed this: the venerable movie theatre Cinema City 12 has closed.
Cinema City was south Edmonton's only source for nearly-on-video movies. Back in the day, a Tuesday movie only cost $1, and recently, I think a typical evening movie cost $3.50. I'll miss the gaudy colour scheme, the sticky floors, the cash-only ticket counter, the amateur-looking website... Now I have to go to northeast Edmonton or West Edmonton Mall if I want to see a cheap movie.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm probably moving out of my parents' house in south Edmonton to a condo in northeast Edmonton in the next couple of months.

Email problems

If anybody sent me an email at my ualberta.net address last Saturday, Sunday, or Monday (July 21-23), please try sending it again. There was a problem with the server and some messages didn't get through. (You probably got an error message if this happened, but even if you didn't, feel free to send the message again.)

They claim they found the problem, and that it's less likely to happen again after September when they do a major upgrade. It would be a shame to have to stop using this lifetime email address because of poor service.

Wildlife

Do you ever stop to sit and watch wildlife? Living in the city, I don't get to do this a whole lot, but I like to do it when I get the chance. There's something special, maybe even profound, about the way they go about their simple lives. These animals are incredibly complex (take a biology class if you don't believe me) yet they go about their lives oblivious to the size of the universe or even the size of this world. They have no idea about human governments and societies. If they were born in a place inhabited by humans, they have no idea that all this human technology is something relatively new. Either way they have no idea how it all works, or how plants, other animals, and even their own bodies work. But they contentedly go about their simple lives. Maybe a simpler life would make us more content, and maybe there are things we're oblivious to that we will never understand. We can't even totally understand these animals. For me personally, I sometimes find that admiring God's creation makes me feel closer to God and seems to strengthen my faith. It's not really a logical thing; as far as I can tell it doesn't prove God's existence. I believe God isn't anti-logic but he does go beyond mere human logic.

These pictures were from my trip to Uganda last year. I got to go canoing on a river and watch some pelicans last weekend, but I didn't take any pictures.

For more about God and wildlife, read Job chapter 39.

All Leaders are Unreliable

"All leaders are unreliable."
--Scott Adams

The creator of Dilbert had this to say in his blog recently. (Click on his name to read that whole post and a whole bunch of comments that people left.) If you haven't read the whole thing, here's one paragraph to give you some idea of the context: "I’d point out that most of our information about the war comes from the generals. All leaders are unreliable. A general would be fired immediately if he said the surge was a bad idea. And if a general believed the surge might succeed, even as a long shot, he’d be a crappy leader if he told anyone his true assessment of the odds. So you can’t believe the leaders." He also pointed out how people try to justify their mistakes in their own minds.

This got me thinking because I am a leader. If things were going badly in the youth group that I'm involved in leading, or if things were reasonably good but needed some changes to take it to the next level, would I say so? Would I even admit it to myself? Of course, things are going well there, but can you take my word for it? Can I take my word for it?

Please let this suck less than Bean and Duct Tape Forever

"Spiderpig! Spiderpig!
Does whatever a spiderpig does!"
--Homer Simpson

The marketing blitz for the Simpsons movie has begun. I went to 7-11 on Sunday and found that they're selling collectible Squishie cups. Today I heard that they've even converted a few 7-11s in the US and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts. Yesterday I saw Transformers, and one of the trailers was for the Simpsons movie. The trailer was pretty funny, and I just hope they didn't use up all the jokes to make the trailer.

As a fan, I'm going to have to see this movie.

In the expensive theatres.

Even if it sucks.